JULY 19, 2000
Burti has whirlwind four-day ride
JAGUAR test driver Luciano Burti claims that he has just come through the most remarkable four days of his life.
Since Saturday, the Brazilian made his Grand Prix debut as stand-in for the unwell Eddie Irvine with less than 48 hours' notice, outpaced champcar star Dario Franchitti in testing and endured one of the biggest crashes of his career.
"It's been big surprises all the time," said the 25-year-old. "I was in Austria as normal to watch, and then they told me I was driving.
"I kept very calm as soon as I found out. From then on I was just concentrating on the car and how to make it better. I didn't really approach it as a race.
Then came Tuesday's test at Silverstone, in which Burti, who was trying out aerodynamic developments for the R1, recorded a best lap time of one minute and 27.4 seconds. Scot Franchitti in comparison clocked a slower time of 1:28.4 seconds in his debut outing for Jaguar.